Stay Healthy This Winter With the Right Ear Protection
Our ears are particularly sensitive sensory organs and get cold quickly. That is why ear protection is so important in the winter.
Snow, cold, icy wind—in winter, our ears often take quite a beating. And they’re a particularly sensitive organ, because the skin on our ears is very thin and lacks protective muscle tissue. That’s why our ears get cold quickly when it’s cold outside. At the same time, the risk of infection increases in winter. That’s why proper ear protection is especially important during the cold season to keep our ears safe.
Why is proper protection against infection so important?
When your ears get cold in cold temperatures, blood flow to the mucous membranes decreases, making them more susceptible to pathogens. This is because pathogens can then settle more easily in the nasopharynx. The result: a blocked Eustachian tube can lead to a middle ear infection. To prevent this from happening, you should protect your ears.
Tips for Protecting Your Ears in Winter
- Always keep your ears warm with hats, headbands, earmuffs, or ski helmets. This ensures that blood continues to flow to the mucous membranes, making your ears less susceptible to pathogens.
- Always dry your ear canals thoroughly after showering, swimming, or using the sauna before going back outside.
- Avoid wearing earrings in winter, as metal absorbs cold and causes your ears to cool down more quickly.
- A healthy diet and plenty of exercise stimulate blood circulation—which also benefits your ears.
- Drink at least 1.5 liters per day—water, tea, or juice spritzers—as adequate fluid intake keeps the mucous membranes moist, keeps nasal mucus thin, and thus helps protect against infection.
- Nasal sprays containing sea salt, steam inhalations with essential oils, or nasal rinses with saline solution also provide the necessary moisture for your nasal mucous membranes and thus ensure proper protection against infections.
Special Tips for Hearing Aid Users (Part 1)
Winter, with its cold temperatures, also presents some challenges for hearing aid users. With our tips, you can ensure that your hearing aids always remain in working order:
- Use sweatbands to protect your hearing aids from snowfall or freezing rain. Sweatbands also provide wind protection for
- Bundle up, but do it right: Hats, scarves, or shawls help protect against icy winds and cold ears. Wrapped around your head, they keep you nice and warm. However, when worn with hearing aids, they can cause friction noises and—especially with thicker fabrics—result in muffled sound reproduction. Therefore, make sure the highest point of the hearing aid, where the microphone is located, remains uncovered.
- Temperature fluctuations cause condensation to build up inside your hearing aids, which impairs their functionality. Therefore, you should always dry your devices using a special drying station.
By the way, water-resistant hearing aids are less susceptible to condensation.
Special Tips for Hearing Aid Users (Part 2)
- Hearing aid batteries can be affected by cold and moisture. It’s therefore a good idea to keep your hearing aids warm with a hat, headband, or similar accessories. You should also check your battery levels regularly and carry spare batteries with you when you’re out and about.
- It’s not easy to adjust your hearing aid—for example, to change the volume or switch hearing programs—while wearing gloves or with cold fingers. A remote control or a smartphone app can help with this. Talk to your hearing care professional about the options available with modern hearing aids. Remote controls can often be retrofitted.
- Water-resistant or waterproof hearing aids are ideal for winter sports enthusiasts and people who enjoy spending time outdoors in the winter. These not only protect against sweat, splashes, and condensation but can even be worn in the shower or while swimming.
Look forward to winter and enjoy the cold season without a care, thanks to our tips. Also, pay attention to whether you can still clearly hear the crunch of your footsteps in the snow or other sounds. After all, especially during the cold season, when streets and sidewalks are slippery, we need to be able to react quickly. Good hearing also means being able to pinpoint the direction of a sound as quickly as possible so you can react promptly. If you’re unsure, have a free hearing test done by an ENT doctor or hearing care professional. After all, our hearing begins to decline around age 50. Hearing loss usually starts gradually and therefore often goes untreated for longer.
Find out here what you can do if you have an earache or already have an ear infection.
